30 Year Anniversary with Peter Weitsen

30 Year Anniversary with Peter Weitsen

July 1 was the 30th anniversary of my partnership with Peter Weitsen. Little did I know when we started that it would be the beginning of a permanent friendship and partnership.

When we started we decided to target high quality clients that demanded preferential services from their accountants who would also be extremely knowledgeable and with the ability to apply their experience to them and be readily available, and we did that and were pretty successful at it.

As owners of a small business, Peter and I needed to run the business while also performing substantial services and giving preference to the latter. Over time we came upon a four part method that enabled us to run our business effectively that worked very well for us.

1. We had lunch together whenever we were both in the office. When Frank joined us, he then was included in every lunch and meeting. The lunch break gave us time to discuss our business and also to update each other on what was going on with our clients.
2. We had an offsite meeting once a month to discuss our business. We started at 9:30, and took a break at 11:30 and 1:30 and ended at 4:30 so we had time to return clients calls, respond to emails and speak to staff if necessary. This gave us about 6 hours of concentrated time to work on our business. We rented a small conference room in a local hotel, and also had lunch there.
3. Each night our bookkeeper gave us a sheet showing the daily and month-to-date deposits and disbursements and bank balance so we had a handle on our cash and cash flow
4. On the last day of every month before our bookkeeper went home, she gave us monthly profit and loss statements and a balance sheet, a detailed schedule of accounts receivable and the monthly fixed fee and retainer bills that would be in the mail the next day. We got the time run two days later and then prepared those bills which went into the mail that evening. We were two minutes from the post office always catching the last pick up so our bills were not delayed an extra day by placing them in a mail box for a morning pickup.

We walked the talk. A lot of this is what we advise our clients to do. The above was very effective in dealing with our practice and kept us current on what we needed to know. It also did not cut into time that we needed to spend on client matters. It also helped that we liked each other. I know many businesses where each owner or partner has lunch at their desk, alone, gulping down a quick sandwich or salad. Too bad for them.

Thirty years is a admirable and proud milestone and my pleasure in being able to spend it with Peter. Happy anniversary Brother.

I posted another 30^th anniversary column yesterday on accountingtoday.com and here is the link.